The Chairman's Strategic Essay Contest

The Chairman's Strategic Essay Contest

Article excerpt

National Defense University Press is pleased to announce the winners of the 24th Annual Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Strategic Essay Contest, held May 18-19, 2005, at the National Defense University (NDU) campus, Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, DC. The purpose of this competition is to stimulate strategic thinking and promote well-written research and a broader security debate among professionals. Students from all services, interagency students, and international fellows attending senior U.S. service or joint professional military education colleges are eligible to compete.

This presentation of the winners marks a first in both the 24-year history of the contest and the 12-year history of Joint Force Quarterly (JFQ). Henceforth, the winning essays will be published in a "special feature" section in each 4th quarter issue of JFQ. The publication of the winning essays is meant to assist the Chairman with the tasks of stimulating critical thinking among security professionals as well as making the research more accessible to a wider readership while publicly honoring the winners and their faculty supporters. Furthermore, NDU Press will consider all semifinalist research papers for publication in future issues of JFQ. This year, all participants will receive a certificate of participation signed by NDU President, Lieutenant General Michael Dunn, USAF, and finalists will receive a certificate signed by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers. Winners also receive monetary gifts provided by the NDU Foundation.

The 2005 contest saw a 25 percent increase in the number of essays judged, making this year's event among the most competitive in its history. The nominated essays represented a wide spectrum of security education research topics, and the joint, interagency, and international spread of winners was tremendous: